Vacasa Reviews
Written By Chad McGuire (Sparrow Intel)
Overview
Vacasa Reviews is a custom feature for Casago franchises — and anyone else with listings on Vacasa.com — who receive guest reviews from Vacasa.
Vacasa doesn't offer a dashboard or API for guest reviews: the entire process runs over email. Vacasa emails each new guest review to the property manager contact they have on file, and you post a public response by replying to that email within a limited window. It's easy for those emails to get buried — and the response window to slip by.
Sparrow Intel turns that email workflow into a normal review channel. Your Vacasa reviews land in your review inbox alongside Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Google, and you can read, track, and respond to them from Sparrow Intel just like any other OTA — including AI-drafted replies.
💡 This feature is enabled per account. Message us on the in-app chat bubble or at support@sparrowintel.com to opt in.
How Vacasa handles reviews — the 14-day process
Understanding Vacasa's side of the process explains why timely responses matter. When a guest leaves a review on Vacasa.com:
Vacasa first evaluates the review with a strict automated verification. If it passes, the review is published immediately.
Vacasa also emails a copy of every review — published or not — to the property manager contact email on file. The email includes the property, star rating, review title and text, and stay details (confirmation code and dates).
To post a public response, you reply directly to that email. A Vacasa agent reviews your response and publishes it on your behalf. Even if a review was published right away, you can also request that it be published or suppressed.
If Vacasa doesn't hear from you and the review isn't live, it sits in a pending state for 14 days from the review date.
After 14 days, a second, less restrictive automated verification re-evaluates the review. If it passes, the review is published automatically; otherwise it remains pending (Vacasa may still publish it manually later, on no defined timeline).
The key takeaway: you have a 14-day window to respond, and if you don't, most reviews publish without a response.
What Sparrow Intel does
Every Vacasa review email becomes a review in Sparrow Intel, in the same review inbox as your other channels
Reviews are matched to the guest's reservation and property by confirmation code wherever possible
You respond from Sparrow Intel like on any other OTA — we email your response to Vacasa on your behalf, threaded on the original review email so Vacasa's team can process it, with a copy to your own mailbox for your records
Sparrow Intel tracks Vacasa's 14-day window — once it has passed, replying is no longer available, matching Vacasa's process
Step 1 — Opt in with support
Message Sparrow Intel support via the in-app chat bubble or support@sparrowintel.com and ask to enable Vacasa Reviews.
We'll enable the feature on your account and reply with your unique Vacasa reviews forwarding address — an address ending in @reviews.seesparrow.com. Copy it exactly; don't retype it.
Step 2 — Forward your Vacasa review emails to Sparrow Intel
Set up automatic forwarding from the mailbox that receives your Vacasa review emails — the property manager contact email registered with Vacasa — to your Sparrow Intel forwarding address.
Vacasa review emails come from guest.reviews@vacasa.com. That's the sender your forwarding rule should match.
⚠️ Forwarding must be an automatic, server-side rule like the ones below. Manually forwarding individual emails won't work — a manual forward rewrites the message, and Sparrow Intel won't recognize it as a Vacasa review.
Google Workspace (Gmail)
This assumes you use Google Workspace to manage your company email. If your provider isn't Google, see Microsoft 365 below or your provider's forwarding settings.
Copy your Sparrow Intel forwarding address (from Step 1).
Go to the Google Admin console at admin.google.com → Apps → Google Workspace → Gmail → Routing.
Under Routing, click Configure (or Add another rule). Name it (e.g. "Vacasa reviews to Sparrow Intel").
Set the recipient: choose Single recipient and enter the address Vacasa sends your review emails to (e.g.
info@yourcompany.com).Check Change envelope recipient and choose one of:
Also deliver to — review emails go to both your existing inbox and Sparrow Intel. Recommended, so your team still sees Vacasa's emails directly.
Replace recipient — Sparrow Intel becomes the only place these emails are delivered.
Then add your Sparrow Intel forwarding address as the recipient.
Click Show options. Under Envelope filter, check Only affect specific envelope senders, choose Single email address, and enter
guest.reviews@vacasa.com. This keeps the rule from forwarding anything except Vacasa review emails.Apply the rule to non-recognized and recognized addresses.
Click Save.
⚠️ If you have existing routing rules, they can conflict with the new one. For reliable delivery, reorder the Sparrow Intel rule so it applies first.
Microsoft 365 / Outlook
Option 1 — Admin Center mail flow rule (recommended for organizations). Works for shared mailboxes and any user.
Go to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center at admin.microsoft.com.
Navigate to Admin centers → Exchange → Mail flow → Rules.
Click + Add a rule → Create a new rule. Name it (e.g. "Vacasa reviews to Sparrow Intel").
Under Apply this rule if, select The sender is and enter
guest.reviews@vacasa.com.Under Do the following, select Redirect the message to and enter your Sparrow Intel forwarding address (ends in
@reviews.seesparrow.com).To keep a copy in the original mailbox — recommended, so your team still sees Vacasa's emails directly — add another action: Bcc the message to the original mailbox.
Click Next, configure exceptions if needed, then Finish.
Option 2 — Outlook on the web (individual mailbox).
Sign in at outlook.office.com → Settings (gear) → View all Outlook settings.
Go to Mail → Rules and click Add new rule. Name it (e.g. "Vacasa reviews to Sparrow Intel").
Under Add a condition, choose From and enter
guest.reviews@vacasa.com.Under Add an action, choose Redirect to and enter your Sparrow Intel forwarding address.
Click Save.
⚠️ Use Redirect to, not Forward to — a forward rewrites the message the same way a manual forward does, and Sparrow Intel won't recognize it. Some organizations disable user-controlled redirects; if you don't see the option, use Option 1 (admin mail flow rule) or contact your IT administrator.
Other providers
Any provider that supports server-side conditional forwarding works. The rule is the same everywhere: when a message arrives from guest.reviews@vacasa.com, deliver a copy — unmodified — to your Sparrow Intel forwarding address. If you're not sure how to set this up with your provider, message support and we'll help.
Step 3 — Confirm it's working
Vacasa review emails only arrive when a guest actually leaves a review, so there's nothing to see until the next one comes in. Once your rule is in place, let support know — we'll confirm the next review flows through. When it does, it appears in your Sparrow Intel review inbox like any other channel.
Things to know
The 14-day clock is Vacasa's, not ours. Respond promptly — after the window closes, Vacasa may publish the review without your response, and replying from Sparrow Intel is no longer available.
Replies are published by a Vacasa agent, so your response may take some time to appear on Vacasa.com after you send it.
Only new reviews come in. Sparrow Intel receives reviews from the moment forwarding is set up — earlier Vacasa reviews aren't imported.
Keep your Vacasa contact email current. If Vacasa starts sending review emails to a different address, update your forwarding rule to match — otherwise nothing reaches Sparrow Intel.